ISLAND VOICES
Business image of Hawai'i needs help

By Dalton Tanonaka

Dalton Tanonaka is the former president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council.

Ray Jefferson's voice boomed throughout the meeting room: "Hawai'i stands ready to assist you in making PBEC's location even more valuable."

The deputy director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism was in Seoul this week to make a case for keeping the headquarters of the Pacific Basin Economic Council in Honolulu. PBEC is the 1,000-member Asia-Pacific business organization based in Hawai'i since 1992.

Its CEOs were considering moving the operation to an Asian capital that better served its policy and financial needs. Singapore was the leading competitor. And in a surprise move, Hong Kong representatives made their own bid, citing organizational strength and corporate community support.

Jefferson emphasized the geographic and time-zone advantages of a Hawai'i base and delivered a pledge by Gov. Linda Lingle to directly address PBEC needs.

As PBEC president, I had been privately lobbying government and business leaders to step up and take a stand if they truly wanted to sell Hawai'i as more than Gucci Gulch and Brunch on the Beach.

The governor and DBEDT Director Ted Liu realized the value of PBEC's presence and began a push to help recruit more Hawai'i members. Several corporate heavyweights such as Hawaii National Bank's Warren Luke and Central Pacific Bank's Clint Arnoldus responded, as did little guys like printer Don Ojiri of Obun Hawaii and financier Brad Smith of Kahala Capital Partners.

But for the most part, local business leaders sat back, asking "what has PBEC done for me?"

Fair question. But the opportunity to expand business through this one potentially huge window would be lost forever. And our economy needs every edge it can get.

My backroom advocacy for my hometown caught up with me, and that and other differences of opinion resulted in a board battle and my departure from PBEC on the same morning as Jefferson's powerful address. But my desire to see Hawai'i make new and better business connections throughout the world isn't leaving, and now I can be out front with the governor in working to keep PBEC here.

It's far easier to keep what we've got than to seek what we don't have.